Hasegawa Toyota Celica RAC 1977 Mikkola Hertz

[corrrado]

Hello All! Since I always loved the shape of this Celica I thought to give it a go to commemorate Hannu Mikkola who sadly left us nearly a year ago. He is always been associated with Audi and Ford but at the beginning of his carrier he helped a lot to Toyota to enter the top level rally league. This build represents his car on the 1977 RAC rally, where he finished 2nd behind Waldegaards Escort. There is the Aoshima kit of this exact rally car but I found the proportion too was big the scale of the car is around 1/22,5. This is the Hasegawa HR-7 1972 Nippon Grand Prix kit which is well proportioned and has the proper wheel extensions provided. The only problem that I had to buy the HC-12 kit as well to get the left-hand steering dashboard... Other ththings I constructed was the full rollcage and the interior bits and pieces. The taillight was borrowed from the Aoshima and cut to fit into the smaller Hasegawa kit. The wheels were scratched from an old Fujimi Minilite, an old Protar tyre and a Hasegawa Dunlop tyre side. I also made the main red side decal and the hundstuth pattern for the driver seat - Thanks Petteri again for the excellent print! - and the rest was used from the Aoshima kit. I made some experiment on the weathering to represent the rainy muddy RAC rally as it was. It is the usual pigment, soap and water technique airbrushed. The kit is not finished yet, all the accessories like wipers, antenna, mirror are still missing. I hope to finish soon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovk2qepc31I

[denilsonvm]

Good choice and nice weathering!

[mel79]

Superb work as usual from you! The weathering is just like in the pictures with the sides cleaned by watersplash and the details are wonderful. Only the stage maps are missing from the folder Great tribute for Hannu.

-Mikko

[corrrado]

Thank you guys! Mel79, you are right as Hannu was one of greatest and most versatile driver of his time. There is an excellent video of the 70th edition of the Jyväskylän Suurajot where the greatest drivers remembering Hannu. The only person missing there was Henkka... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0h8FGn6ccM

[JesusM]

Hi Corrado, good model as usual!! Perfect!!

[corrrado]

Thanks Jesus for your comment!